


Kindred Spirits

by NancyBrown



Category: Discworld - Terry Pratchett
Genre: Gen, Tea
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 06:15:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17761364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NancyBrown/pseuds/NancyBrown
Summary: Ponder and Susan meet for tea.





	Kindred Spirits

**Author's Note:**

  * For [OldToadWoman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/OldToadWoman/gifts).



Ponder slipped into the chair, nodding politely at his companion. Nodding impolitely would be unthinkable. "Good afternoon."

Susan finished reading the article in the _Ankh-Morpork Times_ and folded her newspaper before she said, "Good afternoon. You're late."

He almost chuckled, then thought better of it. The Dean, sorry the Archchancellor of Brazeneck, would have made a poor attempt at humour at being called 'late' by Death. Ponder had discovered early on that Susan frowned on poor attempts at humour. "My apologies. I was delayed by the Archchancellor." His cheeks coloured mildly. He was forced to admit that Ridcully was a great wizard, if one also bereft of a sense of humour. He was aware of Ponder's occasional meetings, and had taken an opportunity to get in some ribbing about Ponder 'going to see his young lady.' He had the terrible feeling Susan could read all this on his face as he turned and signaled for the waiter. Ridiculous, of course. Susan was no one's young lady, and certainly not in any way, shape or form was she Ponder's. Rather, they were friends, an astonishingly rare find for both.

"What were you reading?" he asked.

"The letters page. I had a mild headache and decided to give myself a larger one."

Ponder leaned over to read a few lines. One of Ankh's finer citizens was complaining that the Watch was, once again, using trolls, dwarves, and even - the letter writer was furious about this - some gnome on a pigeon to walk the beat in his otherwise pristine neighbourhood. "Oh dear." The contingent of non-humans would be doubled in said neighbourhood by tomorrow.

"It's so frustrating. People simply don't think."

"Nor pay attention," he replied. The waiter arrived with his tea, and warmed up Susan's cup. It was a conversation they'd had many times, appreciating the understanding ear. Most people, humans or otherwise, walked through their lives in a pleasant cotton fog, taking the minimum amount of responsibility necessary to get through their days. Ponder remembered living that way, his only goal in life to earn a place on the faculty at UU and spend the next century eating big dinners and not moving around much. Working on Hex had unlocked his curiosity. Ponder had poked at the universe, and found frayed strings, and pulled, and he paid attention to what happened each time, and he accepted job after job because someone had to do it.

Susan did the same thing, literally at times. She was not Death, but on several occasions she'd donned her black robe and stood in her grandfather's place to perform the Duty. (She always spoke the word with the capital letter, and Ponder could do no less.) She wasn't capable of closing her eyes to the real things. She couldn't pretend something was someone else's job.

"Have you ever wondered what would happen if the world was full of clear thinkers?"

Susan took a drink of her tea. "No. Too many people already believe themselves to be rational and level-headed." She gestured to the paper. "I'm sure he thinks there ought to be a law, that his way is the logical order of things, and that if he could only arrange everything the way things ought to go, it would all be better."

A sneaking suspicion worked its way down his spine that she wasn't exactly talking about him right now, and also that she was. Their last conversation had drifted. Ponder had speculated about what he would do if he had a go at the whole scythe and horse business, and how he'd put things properly. Susan had told him how her father had once thought the same thing, had rescued a girl who should have died because of the unfairness of it all, and how the only reason that didn't break the universe was because her grandfather had found a spark of kinship with him. You couldn't fight the Duty. You'd crack the world.

There was only one response Ponder could give her now. "I suppose you're right."

She gave him a tight smile. "See? You're thinking more clearly already."


End file.
